Parties choose increasingly qualified and specialized ministers

This conclusion is contained in a study entitled “Who Governs Portugal? Ministerial profiles in comparative perspective”, coordinated by researchers António Costa Pinto and Marcelo Camerlo, who analyzed the profiles of all Portuguese ministers from 1976 to 2025 and compares the Portuguese case with other democracies in southern Europe, such as Spain, Italy and Greece.

In statements to the agency Lusa, the polytologist António Costa Pinto stressed that, in the Portuguese case, the tendency of governments to recruit ministers in civil society “has been consecrated”.

“What is the most recent difference that our study captures? It is because the ministers themselves who come from the parties also have a more appropriate profile to the folder ", highlighted.

In other words, in general, ministers have more qualifications for the portfolios they assume, whether they come from civil society or partisans. The study highlights, however, that this increase in technical profiles did not mean a reduction in political profiles: “Despite the growing pressures for specialization, the parties continue to dominate ministerial appointments in Portugal.”.

“ ‘Party sisterhood’ continues to structure ministerial recruitment — not as a rigid inheritance, but as an adaptive framework through which Portuguese governments are part of specialization without giving up political control. In this sense, the Portuguese case gives ‘nuances’ to the broader theses about the technocratization of European governments, showing that technical competence can be institutionalized within — and not against — the logic of the party government”, reads in the study.

In the analysis, the Portuguese rulers from 1976 to 2025 are divided into four ministerial types: “external”, “expert”, “political-expert”, and, finally, “political”.

According to the authors, Portuguese democracy stands out for the predominance of the hybrid “political-specialist” profile and for the fact that “non-partisan ministers” are often “semi-independent”, that is, “individuals without formal affiliation, but with recognizable ties to parties”.

“ Thus, partisanism remains structural, integrating in a balanced way with technical competence, which is incorporated into party structures and the selection process of the ministerial elite, rather than opposing them”, he concludes.

One “of the engines that required the rulers greater specialization”, said António Costa Pinto, was the process of joining the European Union in 1986.

The increase in qualifications may have positive effects on the construction of public policies, but the researcher stressed that decisions are always dependent on political institutions such as parliament and the nature of the government (majority or minority).

“The Minister of Labour may well be a believer in the reform of the labor system as a professor of Labour Law, but the Assembly of the Republic and the social partners decide,” she explained.

The study coordinator also stressed that political ministers have, on average, a shorter political career, either because they will occupy other positions or because of possible party conflicts; and independent or semi-independent ministers remain, on average, longer in office.

As for the distribution of portfolios, party loyalty is once again a determining factor: parties may seem more willing to “give some control” but not in central matters such as foreign affairs, “which involve high-risk decisions, where political trust and loyalty are indispensable”.

On the contrary, portfolios such as Energy, Environment or Transport tend to have more experts. Finances arise as a ministry that “always unites in general political trust with technical trust,” said António Costa Pinto.

The study also revealed differences between PS and PSD: analyzing the composition of all constitutional governments since 1976, socialists tended to include in their most expert executives, while the PSD revealed a greater tendency to “experienced political frameworks”.

Another of the conclusions of this analysis is that, in Portugal, the ministerial career has a relatively short duration, “below the averages recorded in some European countries”, with a Portuguese minister remaining on average around 600 days in office.